Developing new nano drug delivery systems
One of the best things about being a scientist is the collaborative nature of the job. When scientists work together, we can solve bigger and more complex problems, reach solutions faster and expand the breadth of our research.
For the last five years, I’ve been working with an international consortium of scientists from industry and academia, on the development of novel nano drug delivery systems. The EU Horizon 2020 B-SMART project worked to develop an innovative way of transporting RNA across the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier to deliver therapeutics directly to the brain. Such a therapy has the potential to improve the lives of millions of people suffering with neurogenerative diseases.
During B-SMART, various carrier systems were formulated, including: lipid nanoparticles (LNPs – which are an established approach), nano capsules & nanogels (which are emerging as a drug delivery system) and extracellular vesicles (which are still exploratory in the field of drug delivery). These drug delivery systems were modified and assessed in in vitro and in vivo conditions. Interestingly, one of the final formulations developed during the project, is an RNA-LNP platform that is very similar to those used in mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
Project highlights
This unique project has increased our understanding of the big challenges of delivering therapeutics to the brain. By combining the innovative drug delivery mechanisms of nanoparticle platforms with nanobodies (miniature antibodies) we are one step closer to finding solutions.
Of course, there are significant challenges in moving from test tube scale to the hundreds of liters of product that are required to make a drug clinically viable. Consequently, the B-SMART consortium implemented a pilot scale-up process.
The project has brought academic and industrial partners together, allowing us to effectively utilize individual knowledge and expertise to build a more complete picture of drug delivery systems and therapeutic scale-up. This collaboration was recognized as the key to the project’s success in mapping the whole workflow from concept to pilot-GMP manufacture.
What was Malvern Panalytical’s impact on this project?
In order to understand how drugs and drug delivery systems will act in the body, it’s essential to understand the structure of the particles. Malvern Panalytical partnered with researchers from SINTEF to provide expertise in the physicochemical characterization of the generated drug delivery systems, from concept and development to manufacture.
All partners were provided with well-established standard operating procedures (SOPs), developed by the team here at Malvern Panalytical. Guided by these SOPs, scientists across the consortium were able to confidently test samples tailored to the experimental conditions of their formulation, using NanoSight and Zetasizer instruments. This analytical characterization is essential to confirm and monitor formulation quality, stability and predict its behavior under in vivo-like conditions.
Sharing our expertise in analytical instrumentation helped the partners characterize key attributes, such as the size and concentration of their nanocarriers, and the stability of their formulations. This meant the impact of chemical modifications and changes to manufacturing processes could be identified very quickly. This helped to fast-track processes and ensure that only the most promising candidates continued to progress through the workflow.
What’s next
For me personally, B-SMART was an incredible experience of science, collaboration and fun. On one hand, it was very educational, with lectures, seminars and demonstrations delivered by renowned experts and key opinion leaders in the field of nanomedicine. On the other hand, the project was very practical and hands-on. By the end we had taken a journey through the whole development workflow, from concept, through research & development, to manufacture and scale-up of novel therapeutics with the potential to change how the world treats diseases of the brain.
Working alongside the partners gave me a valuable insight into the important role that Malvern Panalytical plays at all stages of therapeutic development, testing and the control.
Most importantly, while the solution to developing a drug delivery system that can cross the blood-brain barrier still eludes us, this project has helped to advance the science and takes us one step closer to finding solutions. Through our collaboration, all the partners now have a better understanding of the challenges of drug delivery to the brain and I’m proud of the role our team has played in this important project.
Further reading
- Malvern Panalytical offers a range of complementary, label-free biophysical techniques for characterizing lipid nanoparticles, find out more here:
- Solutions for gene therapy drug development
- Solutions for vaccine development
- Read our peer-reviewed paper on the Biophysical characterization of viral and lipid-based vectors
- Download our poster summarizing the light scattering technologies you can use to characterize lipid nanoparticles
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 721058.
Further reading